A Meeting by Chance
by shadows of rain
Summary: Zelda, on the way to save her beloved friend Link, encounters a gang of bandits. However, as she is about to lose the fight, a mysterious swordsman saves her. [Oneshot] [No pairs]


**Author Note/Setting:**

In the Super Smash Brothers World, different Nintendo worlds and characters become meshed together. So, in this world, each different game has its own country, so to speak, and the characters in SSBM live in their respective countries. This fanfic takes place before any of them met characters from outside their games. Example: Link would know Ganondorf because they're both from the Zelda games, but he wouldn't know Kirby because they're from different games. But they exist in the same world, so they may have heard of each other. Get it? Good. Anywayyy, this is a one-shot, set in pre-SSBM times. Hope you enjoy! –Shadows of Rain

**A Meeting by Chance**

It had taken all of her persuasion power to convince her father as well as the General to allow her to leave the castle to save Link from this mysterious person named Master Hand. Last night, the letter had come, inviting her to a duel at Termina Bay, and if she didn't accept, Link would be killed. General Tafka insisted that his death wouldn't matter- that her life was much more important. But Link, the Hero of Time, had saved her life countless times; it was time to repay the favor.

Zelda urged her horse to gallop faster. The battle was to take place at sun down. It was still afternoon, but a great distance had yet to be covered. Suddenly her horse reared up on its hind legs as a group of bandits surrounded her. Frightened at her horse's reaction, she held onto the reins for dear life, hoping that her horse would calm down. Eventually, it did and Zelda slid off of her horse to meet the bandits.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Zelda heard a voice behind her.

Part of her was frightened. She hoped that she wouldn't take off the hood that she was wearing. That would immediately reveal who she was, regardless if she had worn traveling clothes. However, the other part of her was kind of excited. This was her first true adventure. This is exactly what happened to all heroes in the fairy tale books she read as a child. She wondered if this is what Link had gone through to save her. Link. That's right. She had to save him.

"Please, let me through," she said. Her voice contained none of the urgency that she felt. There was no time for distractions like this.

"Why would we do that?" the man said, walking in a circle around her as if he were a wolf around its prey. "Let's just see who you are." In a split second, he had raised a sword and pushed back her hood before she could protest. "Well, look at that, boys. Her majesty," he sneered. "Princess—" He never had time to finish his words.

Even though she knew it wasn't rational to attack them, that was the last straw. She would not take the defiance. She immediately launched into her attack, using Nayru's Love to knock them all away.

"What the…?" the leader exclaimed in surprise. "Capture her! I'm sure Ganondorf will pay a high price for her pretty little head."

She used a smash attack against the man in front of her, sending him flying and used Nayru's Love again to keep the group at a distance from her. There were just too many of them. She was outnumbered ten to one. But right as she was about to use Farore's Wind to teleport out of there, a sword broke through the madness, driving away the bandits.

With the swordsman's help, the duo easily finished off the bandits, sending them running away as fast as they could. After watching the bandits leave, Zelda got her first good look at her savior. Blue hair. Blue eyes. Blue cloak. Blue shirt. Blue everything. But why would a foreigner save her? Just from the way he dressed, she could immediately tell he wasn't from any part of Hyrule. Who in their right mind had that much of a fetish for blue anyway?

"I didn't need your help, you know," she said rather coldly. "I could have dealt with those brutes myself." Which was partially true. She had been about ready to use Farore's Wind to get herself out of there.

"I'm sure you could have, princess," he said, amused. He had just been coming over the hill when he saw the bandits surround the horse rider. He had waited to find out what the situation was. What a surprise it was to find a beautiful girl underneath that hood.

"I really could have," she insisted. "In fact, I was about ready to leave them before you showed up, Mr. Blue."

"If you say so," he said. This time, he had been teasing her. He had watched her out of the corner of his eye while she fought. She was definitely pretty strong, for a girl. Her magic had been amazing. "The name's Marth, prince of Altea." Well, ex-prince. But she didn't need to know that. "And I do think you could have sufficiently protected yourself. You fought extremely well, princess," he said sincerely.

"Well, Prince Marth," she said, her tone finally softening when he had started treating her seriously. "I need to be leaving. There is – somewhere I have to be at sundown." She prayed to the Goddesses for Link's safety before she climbed on her horse, who had returned from the woods. "Thank you for saving me," she said with gratitude. "My name is Zelda, princess of Hyrule."

With that, she rode off into the distance, leaving Marth gazing after her.

"Zelda…" the name was no more than a whisper on his lips.

**A/N: **I know you all probably hate me. Zelda/Marth is overdone! You want to exclaim. Well, take Marth out, and insert person of your choice. But I guess it wasn't really Zelda/Marth though, right? It was just them meeting. Actually, I'm kind of considering extending this and making it more than a one-shot. The plot elements are definitely there. A mysterious letter arriving. Saving Link. So, what do you think? I know it's sort of a damsel-in-distress type thing, but then I tried to make her more 3D by giving her that sort of stuck-up, impudent attitude in the beginning instead of the whole eternally grateful thing. Comments, criticisms, and whatnot are always welcome, even if you don't like it. Please justify it though if you're going to flame it. I would say, "until next time", but that all depends on your reaction. So, review, review, review! It will be up to you if there is a next time.

–Shadows of Rain


End file.
